Who: Kayla Hart and Adam Darson Where: Adam's room at the dorms When: December 14, the day before the first round of matches. I know, I know. Rating: PG-13 for language Summary: Adam and Kayla hang out in his room, watch a bad movie, and talk about serious stuff. Status: Complete!
This Sunday, like most Sundays, was Kayla Hart's favorite day of the week. Not only did she have off from work (unless River was nearby), but she could also spend her time in the company of her best friend. For years, Kayla and Adam had met each Sunday to do whatever they chose to do on that day. She couldn't remember when the tradition started, but from the time they were in high school, they dedicated one day to each other, no matter how busy they were. Well, Kayla liked to think of it as dedicating a day. As it happened, more often than not, but the time each Sunday came around, Kayla was in need of some human interaction that had nothing to do with Rafael Loyola or River Fan.
However, this particular Sunday was even better. The night before, Kayla and Adam had met at El Torro for dinner, and like usual, they went back to Adam's dorm, as it was closer than for Kayla to go back to her apartment. This tradition had started two years before, when they first started college. If they spent most of the night together, it seemed only logical to spend the night at the closest room. She loved those nights. Two days in the company in Adam and she could also wake up next to him in the morning.
Well, if the stupid boy wouldn't sleep on the floor. Three years, and he still had no idea how she felt about him. Adam. The boy who was always there. He had been her best friends since she was seven years old, and in her last year in high school, suddenly he was more than that. Ever since then, her comments to him had been harsher than usual, and she attempted to keep her distance, which failed.
For twelve years they had been friends, and he knew her better than anyone else did, yet he still treated her like a girl. She may have looked like a girl, but she was far from being ladylike. She swore, even while in polite company, she could spit like a man if prompted to, she knew football strategies, although she hated the game. Nothing about her actions would suggest that she really was a girl hidden deep down, who loved watching old musicals, and buying pretty things, she was too scared to wear. Somehow, when her other friends treated her like one of them, Adam still treated her like a girl...and she loved him for it. Being around him made her want to try and be less of a tomboy, even if that meant wearing a dress in his presence.
However, if he ever found out how she felt about him, she would die of humiliation. A boy as cute and outgoing as Adam did NOT fall for their best female friends, especially not female friends who acted like Kayla did. No, he would find some nice, pretty girl to fall in love with or at least matched with a pretty girl. That was tomorrow, though. Today, she could watch him from her vantage point on his bed, surrounded by things that smelled like him. When he was sleeping, she could watch him without worrying about being caught or worrying about him reading too much into a certain word or sentence she said to him.
Soon, he would be married to someone who definitely wasn't her. She would probably lose her Sunday mornings and afternoons of it just being the two of them. Thank god she still had today.
Adam slept much like a rock. You could watch a movie at high volume, or scream at him, and generally, he wouldn't even shift. He slept through most alarm clocks. When he was little, his mother had been quite petrified multiple times that he'd died, because he wouldn't move when she talked to him. For that reason, they'd thought up the charming saying, "SND", which stood for 'sleeping, not dead'. He wasn't a fan of the saying himself, but then, it was a little humiliating.
The only way to break him out of his coma-like slumber was quite simple, really... you had to touch him. Light and noise didn't matter in the least. But just an alarm on vibrate under his pillow was enough to startle him out of the deepest sleep. He wasn't exactly sure, after so many years, how he hadn't adapted to the stimulation and it had become less effective. His mom had taken to throwing things at him to wake him up, which was why he was quite glad to have moved out of his parent's house.
No, vibrate was quite enough to wake him up. And no matter what day, he always woke up at the same time. Even on weekends.
And it was just about that---
In a sudden movement, he bolted upwards, just as the alarm went off. Scared the dickens out of him, every single time. It was just the most minute of vibrations. He wasn't sure exactly how that worked. But he didn't care enough to think about it right now. He reached behind him to turn the alarm off, yawning at the same time. He was actually as close to a morning person as anyone in his family had ever been. His parents tended to be snappish in the morning, and his sister...
He wasn't even going to think about the strange, devilish creature that was his sister in the mornings.
His back hurt, a little. One would think, after all this time, he might have bought an inflatable bed, or something. He was a smart boy, he should have been capable of that much. However, you would be quite wrong. No matter how sensible buying an inflatable bed might be, he had yet to buy one.
He really should, though. Ow.
Rubbing his eyes, he wondered if Kayla was awake yet. You could never know with that girl. Either she was already awake, and likely plotting to draw on his face with marker, or she was dead asleep. He usually didn't wake her up, as not everyone liked to get up early in the mornings (Kayla was definitely one of those).
"Welcome to the land of the living, dumb ass," Kayla greeted brightly, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She wasn't much of a morning person, but it certainly helped that she had been awake for going on half an hour. She had already washed up in his bathroom and tried to make her hair look presentable by pulling it up with a hair tie. The rest of the time she had been awake, she had been watching him sleep and thinking about this marriage law coming into effect on Monday. "Setting your alarm on a Sunday is fucking stupid."
Putting his hands down, he glanced at the bed. She was sitting there, looking as if she were considering something. He'd probably just circumvented some kind of prank. Just one of many reasons that he set an alarm, every day.
"Morning, sunshine. You seem to be in a lovely mood today." He was teasing her, of course, as he often did. He was quite used to her mouth by now, and though it was admittedly depressing that she swore more often than he did, he at least knew she didn't mean anything by it. Or, at least, he assumed she didn't. Perhaps he was spectacularly stupid and she actually hated him, but thus far she'd never refused to spend time with him, so he was pretty sure she didn't hate him.
Pretty sure.
"Sleep well?" She better have. She was on his damn bed, after all. One of these days, he was going to make her sleep on the floor.
Well, no, he wasn't. But, it was still a nice thought, for the few moments that it lasted.
Kayla stretched out on his bed, her legs hanging over the edge. "Oh, I had an AMAZING night," she said, looking at him innocently. "You should really try thi--oh wait. I forgot. This IS your bed." She snorted with laughter and pulled her feet back on to the bed as she crossed her legs. "You'd think after two years you'd get a bed in here. At least when we're at my place you've got a couch to sleep on." All he had to do was ask, and she'd be more than happy to share her bed or anything else with him.
Christ, he looked adorable with his hair mussed and looking sleepy. "You should go back to sleep. You look like shit."
"You forgot? Really? I doubt it. You probably enjoyed yourself more, knowing you were kicking me out of my bed." He ruffled his hair, but this proved to only make it messier than it was before. He couldn't see how messy it really was, but even if he could, he probably wouldn't have cared a whole lot.
When she brought up the idea of buying a bed, his expression shifted. "I hadn't thought about that..." he murmured, brow knitting for a moment. If only, if only he were joking.
"Go back to bed? Not likely. You'd probably draw curses on my face, or something. Besides, what's the point of setting an alarm if you don't wake up afterwards?"
Shrugging, Kayla tried to suppress her grin as she looked at his hair. "You have a point, but what's the point in setting an alarm at all on a Sunday? You're whole, 'waking on time each day' thing is weird," she said, using air quotes. "If you stay up until, let's say six. Then what's the fucking point in getting up a few hours later? The least you could have done was buy a good mattress. These dorm mattresses aren't worth shit. Screw eating, the first thing I did when I got my first pay check was get a good mattress. THAT is a good investment." Leaning forward, she put her elbow on her leg, and propped her chin on her hand. "So, what's the plan for today?"
Honestly, she didn't care if he had school work to do or not. That was her problem last semester, but not now. Now, she could enjoy her freedom--well, what little freedom she had from living with her boss. She fully took advantage of her day off, and she expected Adam to entertain her. If he had other things to do, well...he should have done them the day before. "I don't want to talk about any of this marriage shit, either," she continued, giving him fair warning. Every day, the idea of marriage a complete stranger took up her thoughts. Nothing in her life could have prepared her for anything like this to have happened. The idea alone terrified her. "I don't want to worry about anything today, except for what I'm going to have for breakfast."
Adam reached behind him, grabbing the pillow he'd been making use of not too long ago, and tossing it back on the bed. If there was one thing you could say about him, it was that he liked to keep things neat. In fact, it was highly probable before they did anything, he'd require Kayla to move so he could make his bed. However, he didn't see anything wrong with liking things neat.
"The idea is you keep your body on a schedule, so it's easier to get up in the mornings, and easier to get to bed on time at night. You should try it, because it does actually work." He rolled his shoulders, wondering if he could will the stiffness out of them if he wished hard enough.
It didn't seem very likely.
When she brought up the whole marriage thing, he fell silent for a good moment. He didn't really want to think of that this morning, and thus far had been quite successful in avoiding it. Sure, he'd been awake a good five minutes... but still. He wasn't sure how he really felt about the idea of marrying someone he didn't know. Yeah, he got that the world needed to be repopulated, or whatever. But he wasn't sure if he agreed with the way they were being forced to do it.
"So what do you want for breakfast, Princess? And that mattress is fine, I haven't had any problems with it." Even though it kind of felt like she slept on it more than he did... He was a little stiff, but that didn't stop him from standing up. He usually felt better once he stood up. And he did. "Move, I want to make the bed."
Might as well get it out of the way.
"You can't talk to me like that. According to you, I'm a princess. Get down on your knees, knave!" Kayla demanded, scooting off the bed. God knew she didn't feel like a princess in her worn pajama pants and his (permanently) borrowed Innovo University tee shirt. Getting out of his way, she leaned against his desk and surreptitiously moved the front end of his stapler a quarter of an inch to the right from where it had been. In her short time at Adam's dorm room, it was her self-appointed mission to move as many things out of their place as she could before he caught on to what she was doing.
With her hand behind her back, she also moved the tape dispenser to sit behind the stapler. "What do you have to offer, oh evil knave? I could go for cake and hot chocolate, myself. Any cake, actually. If you don't have that, then whatever. You know I'll eat anything. Except rice. God, that shit is gross."
"I already slept on the floor for you. That's about as demeaning as kneeling, right?" He thought so, anyway. She got out of his way, however, and he made quick work of making the bed. He'd done it every day of his life, after all, and after that kind of repetition, things become easier, and faster. His back was turned to her, and he could not see what she was doing, and that was probably for the best, because he had a terrible tendency to freak out when things were moved for apparently no reason.
Kayla knew this very well, but didn't seem to care, either.
Satisfied his bed was neat enough, he turned back towards her. "Oh, right, I was supposed to buy food. Yeah, so all I've got right now is wheat bread and carrot sticks. No cake. Nothing even remotely sweet. So... sorry."
He wasn't really sorry. He didn't see the point in buying lots of sweet stuff, for the one day she would be here. He should really just get her a box of Twinkies and call it even. He wouldn't have to worry about it going bad, so he could just forget about them. He wasn't a fan of sweets, much to Kayla's disgust.
"You can make do with that, right? Eat the carrots, and just pretend it's carrot cake."
Seemed sensible enough to him.
"I guess I have some Frosted Mini Wheats... if you want that." He didn't have milk, though. Which was probably why he still had them. He loved that cereal.
Luckily for Adam, Kayla had no idea what he had been thinking, which saved her the effort of slapping him upside the head. Twinkies? Seriously? As it were, she was already offended by his lack of sweet things. He knew she'd be here, so he could have at least said something on their way to his dorm. There was a student center on campus for a reason! Who didn't try to start out their day with cake for breakfast? Or ice cream. It could never be too cold for ice cream.
"You're a dumbass," she repeated for the second time of many more to come that day. "How old are you? Seriously. Are you trying to watch your figure or some shit like that? You're twenty, for fucks sake. Eat a freggin' brownie once in a while." With his looks, Adam could have eaten a batch of brownies without causing any damage. Hell, with a face like his, he could have eaten ten batches of brownies, and most girls wouldn't have cared. "You're worse than my mom, and that's saying something."
"I was going to get you something last night, but I got distracted." Distracted by? Studying. Not many people could start studying, and then look up and realize ten hours had passed, but he was special like that. He lost time quite easily, and knew better than to admit it to anyone, because they probably would think he was crazy. "Sorry."
He really was sorry, too. All his best intentions never really measured up to anything. He never thought the saying 'it's the thought that counts' ever made much sense. Seriously, how lazy was it to just give that excuse? He should have picked some stuff up, but by the time he'd realized he'd forgotten he was rushing to meet her for dinner.
Some excuse, really.
Wait second... Maybe he didn't forget. He could have sworn he was at the grocery store yesterday. And it was only for like, ten minutes, because he'd only bought one thing... Muffins. He loved muffins. He wasn't exactly sure why. He thought they were the perfect breakfast food, and had gotten a variety box. He had one cabinet for dry goods, and they were stowed there. As if he had to hide them, for fear they would be stolen.
"This is all I've got. Kind of close to cake, right?" Not really. They were both quickbreads, to be technical, but that was where the similarities ended.
He adeptly managed to open his mini-fridge with his calf. It was a magic trick he couldn't explain or teach. He glanced inside, and was not surprised by the contents --- nothing but drinks, of all different sorts. "It's not that I am watching my weight, I just don't like sweet stuff. You think you'd remember that after... what is it now? Ten years?"
Something like that, anyway. He was pretty sure he was close. Ballpark, at the very least.
Kayla inspected the muffins and took out two blueberries, then got a paper towel to set them on. They weren't cake, but at least she didn't have to eat the carrots. "It's not a matter of remembering or not, it's the fact that it's still fucking stupid. You're seriously the most boring twenty-year-old I know." That didn't count for much, when Kayla happened to be the most boring nineteen-year-old she knew. Oh well. "And eating cake for breakfast has nothing to do with immaturity. If my week sucks ass and I drink freaking wheat grass juice each morning, which I think if fucking stupid to do, too. That stuff is nasty. I tried it before, and it made me all the more thankful that I'm not a health nut."
She adjusted the pillows on his bed so she could lean against them as she sat on his bed with the muffins. "Anyway, if my week sucks ass, then I think that for one morning, I can eat cake for breakfast."
"Let me get dressed, while you eat your muffin." He didn't understand the need, but maybe it was a girl thing? And seriously, she had to drink wheat grass? Since when?
He wandered over to his drawers, grabbing a handful of clothes, not caring to check if they might look good together. He really didn't care if they did or not, and from time to time, would wear two different patterns at once, and he would never notice.
"Be thankful that I have absolutely no wheat grass, I guess."
He wished he didn't live in the dorm, and that he didn't have to wander down the hall five doors to go to the bathroom, just to shower or do anything. He made for the door, calling behind him, "I'll be right back. Don't move stuff around, you know I hate it when you do that."
Really, asking her not to do something was only like ensuring she was going to do it. He might get back and nothing would be where it was supposed to be. She'd even rearranged his furniture, once. Unfortunately, to her dismay, he'd ultimately liked the way she had laid it out, which canceled out the 'Drive Adam Crazy' factor of it.
Kayla rolled her eyes as he shut the door. After twelve years, it was amazing he still couldn't catch her sarcasm. She had only tasted wheat grass, and she had sworn off the stuff ever since. Her mornings usually consisted of a waffle with syrup and some orange juice. What was the point in watching her weight when she didn't care how anyone saw her?
After finishing her breakfast, she looked around the room, trying to find something she would disrupt. She turned to the photo of his family on his dresser. Ah, yes. The old stand-by. Some days, she didn't mess anything up, just to see him look suspiciously around the room for hours, searching for the things she had changed.
Before he came back into the room, she quickly moved to the dresser and turned the photo upside down and tossed the paper towel away, before she sat back down on his bed. There, now she could look innocent, enough.
It was probably the quickest change he'd ever managed. He'd changed shirts in the hall, and started on brushing his teeth before he even got to the bathroom. A couple of fellow students said meek hellos, but most were not up by this hour, especially on a Sunday. He spared a good two second glance in the mirror at his hair, but didn't find it to be too messy. He couldn't remember a time when he'd thought his hair was so messy, that he'd have to fix it somehow.
He'd showered last night, so he didn't have to really worry about that. All he had to do was finish changing, before Kayla somehow figured out how to turn his bed upside down. Because if she could manage it, she would, and then somehow look completely innocent when he returned, as if it hadn't been her to completely mess up his room at all. Like someone else had rushed in, and she hadn't noticed them in time.
She had mastered her innocent face. It was impossible to crack.
The tap water tasted awful, when he rinsed. But he didn't have to swallow it, so it wasn't that important. Why was he wasting his time thinking about it?
It only took another minute or two to finish changing, and by then, he was headed of back towards the dorm. Knowing full well she was probably changing, he knocked before coming back in. It was a pointless gesture, but he was firmly stuck in his ways.
Kayla rolled her eyes. That had taken what--a minute? So much for having trust in her. As if she would do serious damage to his room when all the evidence would point at her. No, she'd wait for sometime later in the week to really mess up his room. "It took you long enough to get back."
Seriously? He was pretty sure the only way he could have gotten back faster would be if he had just changed outside the door. Instead of responding, however, he opened the door. First he threw his dirty clothes in the hamper, and almost psychically knowing what she'd go for first, he reached out and righted his photo. Every time she was here, it seemed, she'd either flip it backwards, turn it upside down, and when she was being more adventurous, hide it somewhere. He'd had to spend a whole day searching for it. It had ended up being in his dresser, hidden under his pants.
"What are we watching, girlie?" He asked, using the name simply because he knew how much she disliked it. It was an affectionate as he could refer to her, because Kayla seemed to despise nicknames of every sort. He'd been trying for years. At this rate, he was going to have to just let her pick out her own nickname, and he'd just have to run with it.
And fairly guessing what she might suggest, he added, "No Star Trek. Absolutely not."
He glanced at the container of muffins, selecting one that looked like lemon poppy-seed, before looking at her expectantly.
"If you think I'm going to let you watch Star Wars around me, then you need to get your head checked. And don't call me 'girlie'," she added as an afterthought. "Didn't you get a new movie last week? Something about a house? Let's watch that." God, their days were boring. Either they watched movies or they played video games. She was a nerd, but she hated video games. Of course, even though with her hate, she still kicked Adam's ass in most of the games. There was no doubt about it: the boy sucked.
"One of these days, we should go out. Do something, all that jazz. I swear, all we do is sit in this room and yell at my television screen." This was a very literal synopsis of their time spent together, if they weren't out to eat. Or... asleep. "And you do realize I did not purchase this movie... It was given to me. As a joke. Because it's going to be terrible."
He produced the box, and showed her the cover. "You can clearly see the badly Photoshopped blood. And the name, even. Mansion of Doom."
This movie was going to be akin to that movie that came out in the early years of the century. Snakes on a Plane, he believed it was called. A movie so terrible, it didn't even try to be anything but. However, it was probably true that the both of them would much rather watch a bad movie and shout insults at the screen than watch a good (and very boring) piece.
"You know what, Kayla, if you're going to be such a pain about nicknames, I'm just going to stop trying to be nice about it. Maybe I should start calling you Cretin. It's not feminine, so it shouldn't bother you." He shook his head, but he couldn't help a grin. The girl was completely annoying, frustrating, and bothersome, but he wouldn't have her any other way.
"Mansion of Doom it is." His Helper, which he'd set on his nightstand after it had woken him up, was picked up again. The slight chip that contained the movie data was inserted, a couple of buttons pressed, and voi-la! The screen in the blank wall was restored. When not used, it looked exactly like the wall, to make people think there wasn't a TV. But, of course there was! What college student would survive without one?
"Move over." She wasn't going to laze about the whole bed for the movie, too. She was just going to have to share.
Kayla shifted so her feet were hanging off the bed and her back was to the wall. "I don't have a problem with nicknames, when they're good ones. Remember Kale from yesterday?" She took his pillows from the top of her bed and placed one behind her back and the other next to her against the wall, so Adam could sit comfortably. Crossing her ankle of the other, she settled back and waited for the movie to start. "Who gave you this, then? I need to thank him slash her for the potential laughs."
"You say that, but is there honestly a nickname you like? Because I'm pretty sure I've tried them all, and you've found a reason to dislike every last one of them." It was a talent of hers, perhaps. He was lucky -- his name had a grand total of four letters. There was no point in giving him a nickname. It couldn't possibly be easier to say than his original.
He plopped on the bed next to her, not bothering to leave distance between them. The bed wasn't that big, after all, and he'd rather not be teetering on the edge. If he had any guts, he might have put his arm around her shoulder, or something, to make himself a little more comfortable, but he didn't, instead clicking play.
As the opening credits began to roll, the lighting dimmed automatically. "It was a coworker. I told her that I liked horror movies, and she thought to give me this. She said it's the worst horror movie in years."
Kayla flushed as her heart started to beat faster when he sat next to her, his arm against hers. She both loved and hated when he did this. She loved feeling him next to her, and touching him, but with him being so close, she felt tortured. Swallowing thickly, she kept her voice level as she said, "That has to be an accomplishment, then....what the hell is on her head?" The woman in question had what looked like a tiara made out of human teeth on her hair. "Three guesses as to who the killer is, and the first two don't count...." Honestly, her bet was that the woman had seduced some crazy guy to do her killing for her. "Oh, look...a girl and guy having sex. Good-bye, guy. It was nice seeing your two minutes of screen time."
"No, no, no. The girl is going first. I'll bet you the girl is going first. She's way too blonde and pretty to last very long." Not to mention, she had way too large of a rack. She looked like a porn star, and maybe she was, considering what kind of scene was playing at the moment. The two were going at it like bunnies, and he groaned.
"Seriously? We have to see this? Get to the bloody murder."
As always, quite the charmer.
Kayla snorted with laughter as a masked figure slowly rose up from in front of the car. "I wonder if her implants will come out when she gets stabbed...yes, that's right, 'Billy'. Go out of the car. There won't be anyone there at all. It's just a bird." She shook her head at the guy's stupidity. "I still think he's going to die, then the girl will be tortured...or it will be the opposite."
Finally, she felt herself relax against him, though she couldn't get her heart beats under control. Mentally scolding herself for her stupidity, she concentrated on the movie and tried to ignore her thoughts. "Huh. You were right."
"When will you learn? I know the formula to making a horror movie. I've explained it to you before. They never deviate, they haven't in years. It's always the same damn thing." The two of them fell silent for a moment, though he chuckled at the 'death' scene. It really couldn't be faker looking, if they tried. The girls scream hurt his ears, too. The blood dooled from her eyes, for some reason, even though the killer with a molar head-piece had simply stabbed her in the shoulder. The wound was sheeting blood, which was just abnormal.
And even though the wound shouldn't have been enough to kill her, the woman dropped down dead. Of course. The male protagonist, who'd been chasing a bird (Seriously?) returned to the still running car, to see his lady love dead on the pavement.
"See, you never ever abandon your hot girlfriend that you just had sex with. Unless, you know, you wanted her to die." Adam pointed out sagely.
Kayla turned and stared at Adam. "Yes," she started, dryly. "That's good to know if I ever get a girlfriend. After hot sex, don't abandon her. Thank you, oh wise one." Looking back at the screen, she spluttered. "What the hell is she wearing now?" The lady with the tooth tiara was now wearing a latex cat suit, which was bright pink and layered with sections of human hair. Yes, this would be an amazing movie.
"Hey. It's something everyone needs to know. Never leave after sex, or you're going to come back to a carcass. And Kayla..." He turned, and stared at her silently for a moment, which might have indicated seriousness, if you didn't know him well. "I would never stop you from being a Lesbian. I hope you know that."
He was likely going to get a very, very hard elbow for that one, so he wiggled in attempts to protect his ribs.
"Oh, I do appreciate that outfit she has on. I'm not sure how effective it would be during a mass murder spree."
The shot flashed from the crazy killer looking... well, crazy, to the crying male. He was apparently speaking at her funeral. That was a nice touch. Wait, what was that he'd just said?
"Man, that sucks. She wasn't even his girlfriend. Usually it's the girlfriend. Not the wife."
He realized what he'd said only after he'd said it. Oh, damnit. They weren't supposed to talk about marriage. Maybe, if he didn't say anything... she wouldn't notice...
"Sorry."
Crap. It really sucked, when his mouth didn't listen to his brain.
Never one to disappoint, Kayla elbowed him, hard. "You fucktard, I'm not a lesbian." Yes, she did have an appreciation of the female form, but that didn't mean she'd ever want to have sex with a woman. The very idea made her scowl. "For that, I'm not going to tell you what I decided to hide today. Trust me when I say that you'll never find it. Besides, only one of us can be gay, and you're so much better at it than I am. Just look at what you're wearing," she casually pointed out, motioning towards his clothes. "It reeks with femininity."
Frowing at the man on the movie who was still weeping with emotion over his wife's grave, Kayla's thoughts took a different turn. "At least the bastard could choose his wife, even if she was a slut. And we agreed not to bring up marriage. Fucking bastards making us do this. One FUCKING day is all we have left."
Adam looked down, curious to whether his shirt was emblazoned with 'FABULOUS!' or something, that would make a sweater look like a less than manly choice. "I don't get it. It's a sweater." There had to be something feminine he was missing. The sweater was a gift from his sister, so he wouldn't be surprised.
"Damnit, Kayla. Why do you have to move my stuff, anyway?" Adam generally didn't swear, especially at Kayla, but he did tend to get frustrated when she moved his stuff around. He was half tempted to turn the lights back up so he could try and find what it was, but he didn't care enough right now. Remembering he had a muffin to eat, he peeled it open, picking at it a little.
"You don't know we'll get our matches tomorrow. Just be positive. Maybe we'll be one of the later ones. I heard from someone they were annoucing in small batches, so they could address any problems as they arise."
"I move your things because it's funny as hell to watch you try to find them," she replied, ignoring his previous statement altogether. Her mind was racing with unpleasant thoughts of white lace, faceless strangers, and (god forbid) baby booties. Hideous.
She glanced around the room, looking for something, but not knowing what. Her gaze settled on the photo of his sister and parents that she resting on his dresser. "Even if we are one of the later matches, we're still going to be paired with someone." She shifted her gaze to look at the movie as she added, "I'm half tempted to just marry you," in what she hoped was an offhand manner. "At least I would know what I was getting myself into."
"You are the only person that finds it funny," He frowned, rolling his eyes at the screen. From the promiscuous blonde to a promiscuous brunette. This fella had a type. It was pretty amazing, that on the eve of his wife's funeral, the main character had already moved on. Wow --- more than just moved on. Funny, he was pretty sure you didn't rebound if your partner died, but whatever, maybe he was wrong.
They'd known each other for years, and that being the case, Adam assumed she was joking. He chuckled, not really because he found the idea funny, but more because she seemed to. It was just easier to play along sometimes.
"You'd know what you were getting into, maybe, but I still don't think you'd appreciate your match very much. I'm not sure how you've put up for me this long. How could you stand me if we had to be together almost all the time?"
She should have stopped there, with one comment that could lead to a different topic, but she had to push him. Her rare reckless streak was coming through, and she couldn't think of anything more reckless than suggesting to the man who had no idea she was in love with him, that they should get married. Christ. "It would be better than being with a stranger who took advantage of helpless females." Okay, so she wasn't exactly helpless, but the point remained. Kayla had never been in relationship, let alone been with a man in an intimate setting. The idea of sleeping with a stranger gave her the creeps.
"I don't want to marry anyone, especially not a stranger. I can actually stand you for short periods of time, and with how much I work, we wouldn't see each other that often, anyway." It made sense to her to marry her best friend, even if she did like him quite a bit more than he liked her.
"Hey now. I'd never let a guy take advantage of you." He said seriously, brow knitting, eyes moving from the movie to the girl sitting next to him. "And, we don't really get a choice. We have to get married, whether we like it or not."
At her next comment, he couldn't help but laugh. "Short periods of time, huh? So that's why I see you almost every day." She was joking, and he could tell, but he couldn't help but think about the suggestion. He wasn't sure if marrying someone you knew was any better than marrying someone you didn't. Things would still be incredibly awkward, maybe even more so, because they'd never seen each other as more than friends.
Well... She had never seen them has anything more than friends.
"I think mixing your near perfect genes with mine would result in catastrophe," he teased, trying to keep light of the situation. It wasn't exactly easy, but he could try. "Just imagine how beautiful a kid you could make if you found someone with a nicer looking face. That, if anything, should be an incentive."
Kayla shook her head, frustrated, and also flattered. She knew that he didn't mean anything that he said, but for just one moment, she would let herself pretend that he was sincere. Turning back to the movie, she watched as a group of drunk teenagers rode bicycles up to the house. They were quickly approaching the mansion of a manic, but Kayla envied them. At least they wouldn't have to get worried about being forced into having sex with a stranger for the sake of creating life. A life that she wanted nothing to do with.
"You're right," she replied, "Why do I need to worry when a gangly wimp is on my side?"
His jaw dropped in feigned shock. "I'm very sure you were not referring to me as a gangly wimp. You know better. I'm ripped, and that's a fact. Pure muscle, through and through. You're just jealous."
He paused to think, sparing a glance to the television screen. Nobody really used bicycles anymore, so that was just one more reason why it was so unrealistic. Oh well, he wasn't really paying much attention to it, anyway. The creepy music that was playing indicated nothing really interesting would happen, that it was just a cheap thrill.
"You know, it makes me wonder if we'd even be compatible at all. I hear that they won't let people get married unless they are." He wondered if he was thinking too much into things. She obviously wasn't, as she seemed to be more interested in watching the movie his co-worker had deigned 'the worst horror movie in decades, perhaps ever'.
Kayla turned and looked at him blankly. She had seen his work out regimen, which included walking around campus and watching movies. "You? With muscles?" She poked him in the stomach to make her point. "Of course I'm jealous. I don't know, though...I think we could be compatible. If friends can't be compatible than who can?" Turning back to the movie, she crossed her arms over her stomach, awkwardly.
He wiggled in slight protest when she poked him so soundly in the stomach. The girl had fingers made of steel, he was 99% sure of it. "They're under the skin. And thin. But they're there." It was a very solid protest. Very.
Okay, maybe not, but he wasn't complaining because the only workout he ever did was picking up his textbooks.
His eyes shifted from the movie, back to her. It was kind of weird that she hadn't dropped it yet. She usually didn't let jokes carry on this long. It wasn't like she was serious, right? Of course not. How could she be? Definitely not serious. However, he wasn't about to drop it first or she'd pounce on the weakness like a tiger on an antelope (that was kind of sad, that he was comparing himself to an antelope (hey, wait, did tigers even eat antelopes? Or was that lions?)). Instead, he threw an arm around her shoulders, which he knew she hated, and using this arm as leverage pulled her closer, so that there was hardly any space between them, which he knew she despised. He didn't feel any problems being affectionate towards Kayla, which was weird, because when it came to most girls, he'd be left completely incapable.
It was probably because he'd known her so long. Kayla, instead of showing affection, inflicted bodily harm and threw out scathing insults. However, he knew she did it with love and took them as one would usually take affection. For them, it was just a normal interaction.
"Some kind of compatible, anyway, cause I've put up with you so long." he teased, inwardly bracing himself for her to elbow him into submission, grab a pillow, and beat him to death.
Kayla chose to glare at him instead, getting annoyed. "Get your fucking hands off of me," she snapped, yanking herself out of his grasp when all she wanted was to curl up against him. They had been playing this game for years now. He touched her to piss her off and she had to act just as she always did. Yes, she did hate to be touched but with him, it was a different reason entirely than her dislike of affection. He made her feel things that she didn't want to feel, so staying far away from him was her best option. Of course, since they were best friends, it was hard to keep away. As much as she hated to admit it, she loved spending time with him.
That didn't mean she'd let him get away with anything, though. "You freaking smell like a foot." She scooted closer to the wall, staying well away from his touch. "Christ."
Adam laughed at the comment about him smelling, mostly because he knew it wasn't true. "You know I don't smell. You saw me shower last night. Remember all the insults about my crazy hair?" As always, Kayla reacted to affection like most people would react to something disgusting, but he didn't take it personally. If he took it personally he would be one depressed person, and he wasn't the type for depression.
"Now, can't you just focus on the ... what are we watching again? Mansion of Terror? Something like that. We've probably missed two or three deaths at this rate. And those are the best part."
Basically, it was a thinly-veiled attempt to keep them from talking about a ridiculously unfunny joke that was beginning to make him feel uncomfortable. The idea of getting married in and of itself was quite a shock, but the fact that he'd thought about marrying Kayla of his own accord before this whole marriage act was even passed was what made it so awkward. He knew she didn't feel the way he did, not even in the least. And as it was, he was perfectly content to be friends.
Kayla crossed her legs and leaned forward on the bed, resting her elbows on her knees. She wanted to move onto the floor, but she couldn't think of a subtle way of doing it without Adam realizing something was wrong. Of course with the way he'd been acting all morning, he probably wouldn't notice if she started to speak pig latin. He was cute, but oblivious to everything.
"Yeah, whatever," she said, focusing her attention back on the movie. It would be over soon.